Grand jury: Toll-road agency cloaked in 'corruption'

February 28, 2009|By Dan Tracy, Sentinel Staff Writer

A "culture of corruption" permeated greater Orlando's toll-road agency for years because contractors of the agency were continually hit up for political contributions, said an Orange County grand-jury report released Friday.

The main fundraiser, according to the report, was former Chairman Allan Keen, a Winter Park developer who resigned in 2006 after four years on the job amid a scandal over how the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority managed its money.

Keen's attorney, Robert Leventhal, maintains his client did nothing wrong.

"There was no culture of corruption," Leventhal said. "They can use those words, but there was no culture of corruption."

The seven-page report, sealed for 16 months at Keen's behest, was opened only after changes -- including the removal of quotation marks -- were made to satisfy the noted Republican fundraiser. No criminal charges have been filed against him as a result of the grand-jury investigation, which took place during a four-month period in 2007.

An expanded list

Although much of what was released Friday had been reported previously in the Orlando Sentinel, the report revealed new names and details about the depth and breadth of the fundraising tactics employed by Keen and others.

For instance, Keen raised far more than previously thought: $468,000 for 18 candidates, the report said.

Among those receiving money were Orange County Mayor and current authority Chairman Rich Crotty; U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Florida; former U.S. Rep. Ric Keller, R-Orlando; former state Rep. Randy Johnson, R-Celebration; Seminole County Commissioner Mike McLean; and Orange County Commissioner Bill Segal.

Such activities, said Orange-Osceola State Attorney Lawson Lamar, "may be legal, but it sure as heck isn't right."

'Never any pay to play'

The candidate Keen apparently raised the most money for was Crotty. The report placed the number at nearly $63,000.

Crotty disputed that figure, saying his records indicate it was less than half that amount.

Crotty said the grand-jury report "really suggests an opinion and does not suggest any laws were broken. There was never any pay to play at the expressway authority."

The report said Keen used two contractors to fetch money for him: Ron Pecora, who held the agency marketing contract from 1994 until 2006; and Bob Paulson of PBS&J of Tampa, which has been the authority's main engineering consultant since 1982.

Paulson and Pecora both provided documents to the grand jury that outlined their work for Keen.

Pecora declined comment on the report, saying: "They [the grand jury] reviewed everything and came to a conclusion. That's what they are supposed to do. I don't really have an opinion on that."

Paulson, who used to sit with directors of the authority during board meetings, could not be reached. A PBS&J spokeswoman declined comment.

On Friday, authority spokeswoman Lindsay Hodges said, "It is wholly inappropriate that any vendor worked with any board member to solicit contributions under the impression that they are working on behalf of, or in concert with, the Expressway Authority or Board."

What did director know?

The report indicated that the authority director since 2002, Mike Snyder, was aware of the fundraising.

Hodges disputed that account, saying Snyder knew nothing. "No vendor or board member ever approached Mike about the fundraising, and no vendor ever came to Mike with concerns," she said. "Had he known, the contracts would have been immediately terminated."

The grand-jury report, completed in October 2007, had been hung up at the 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach.

Leventhal said he wanted to ensure that Keen was not quoted in the report because he contends there was no testimony that links something his client actually said to fundraising.

There were, however, e-mails and memos written by Keen and to him included in the documents released with the grand-jury report.

Keen's correspondence

One e-mail from Keen to Paulson and Pecora said, in part, "I got a $500 ck from the Pecora firm today, but I needed to make sure that we will get the entire 4K by noon tomorrow? I have my personal 1K ready and Com. McLain [sic] will be coming by right after lunch. We are ok, right?"

Another e-mail from Keen to Pecora and Paulson said, "Randy Johnson has been a very loyal and fervent friend to the Authority for many years." It added that Johnson had "saved" the authority from environmentalists several times and championed its causes. "He can't help us much as CFO (except as a Cabinet member), but we need to reward him for what he has done."

Johnson was defeated in the Republican primary for the job of Florida's chief financial officer in 2006.

Such fundraising, the report said, raises the specter that the only way to maintain working relationships with the authority was to pay.

"Soliciting funds from vendors should not be tolerated by the public," the report said. "Such solicitations of OOCEA vendors must stop immediately in order to regain the trust of the public. Political fund raising reforms statewide should be implemented to put a stop to practices of this nature."